


Until Then

by Fallen_Ark_Angel



Series: Remember Me [54]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:28:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23628460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallen_Ark_Angel/pseuds/Fallen_Ark_Angel
Summary: Goodbyes are hard. But should they be? When you've gone through them so many times before?
Relationships: Bickslow/Lisanna Strauss, Evergreen/Elfman Strauss, Laxus Dreyar/Mirajane Strauss, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox
Series: Remember Me [54]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/209921
Kudos: 2





	Until Then

There was a thunderstorm raging as they left the train station and Locke Redfox wanted to hide out under the cover of an awning, but still found himself drug along by the ecstatic Haven Dreyar, having waited for so long, it felt like, for summer to finally strike and whip up such ferocious storms. Lightning zagged across the sky and they were getting drenched, absolutely, but they sped regardless, her feeding off the energy in the air and him, as always, just off her, and they were a mess. When they arrived. But happy.

And Navi Dragneel, who had to welcome them into her home, found herself feeling much the same at the sight.

Locke was apologetic though, of course, as she ushered them inside, but Haven only tossed a hood from over her head before taking a sharp glance around. She'd never been to Navi's place before and, though she was slightly interested in getting a good look at the place, she had another thought on her mind in that moment.

"Your boyfriend isn't here, is?" she asked and Navi frowned some before shaking her head.

"Are you talking about Tate?" She even made a face. "We broke up."

"Really? I'm sorry." Locke seemed surprise though, glancing over his shoulder while he hung his dripping coat on a hook by the door. "When did it happen though?"

"Over a month ago," Navi admitted though she didn't sound too broken up about it. "If not two."

"He was just in Magnolia though," Locke continued to dig. "With your dad and-"

"Yeah." Now, finally, Navi sounded somewhat peeved. "I know."

"Fuck him." Haven hardly cared to talk about her own relationship. Listening about Navi's failure was not on the list of approved activities. "And fuck your dad."

"Haven," Locke tried, but Navi was quick to nod her head in agreement. Well, about the first thing, at least.

"I'm actually already seeing someone else." And she seemed extremely interested in talking about that. "He's great. Amazing. I think I might even be in love."

Haven, not wanting to get her name said like that again, glanced at Locke before slowly relenting. To Navi, she said, "Oh, yeah. That's interesting. Now can we get to why we came?"

"We came," Locke griped as Navi made a face at the other woman, "to come see Navi before we took off."

"I came," Haven retorted, "to drink and have a good time." Then she frowned some and shrugged. "And to see you, Navi. I guess."

"Anyways," the pink haired woman said then, turning to lead them further into the apartment, "I bought snacks and things and I thought that we could just stay in tonight. I mean, I could take you guys out, but, uh, well-"

"It's okay," Locke assured her as, in the living room now, they'd all come to a stop and he rested his elbow atop Haven's head. "I don't like bringing her around my friends either."

"Fuck off." Haven shoved him then. "I'm trying to be nice and you're being an asshole."

"You literally just said you didn't want to hear about her new boyfriend."

"I don't," Haven defended. "Honesty is a crime now? And your friends suck ass whether I'm around or not, so-"

Navi couldn't help it. She laughed some, unsuccessfully hiding it in her palm. When this got her the glares of both Locke and Haven, she merely shook her head some.

"It's just," she defended, "how are you guys going to go to Bosco together? And do anything important? If you can't even get through coming over to visit?"

Locke deflated some, but Haven had only shifted her attention, spying some soda and beer cans sitting out on the coffee table, in preparation for their arrival, and she moved to snag one. It didn't matter which. She imagined she'd get through most of them before the night was over.

Popping the tab on one, she said simply, "I'm taking him to Bosco to kill him. I'll be the one saving all the people and freeing the slaves and things. Single-handedly, probably."

Locke rolled his eyes while Navi only made a face, but it was just the start of their evening together. And as the storm raged outside, there was much catching up to be had between the trio...before they were split apart again.

Navi had been a bit apprehensive over the whole thing, honestly. She'd gone down to Magnolia for the Winter Festival and seen both Locke and Haven then, but there were no real plans to meet up again at any point. It wasn't that she didn't want to see them again. In fact, she was actually kind of anxious at the idea, of Locke going away. That she couldn't just expect him to be hanging around the hall when she got bored of her new life, waiting to get something to eat and to talk things over. But, he and Haven together…

It was weird.

It always had been, for her. She was always their third-wheel, but as it became more cemented, she found herself just drifting away from the pair completely. She still found herself close to Locke, or at least she had, before everything went to shit the past few years, but everything was finally calming down again. Things could become normal again. A new normal. But now they were both going away for an indefinite amount of time and there was just no guarantee, of anything of course, but mostly that…

The three of them could be like this again.

Ever.

This had always been the case, of course, considering they'd grown up as mages, traveling around in some less than savory parts, but with the two of them going away to Bosco, especially after everything Haven had already gone through…

This was just kind of like a final farewell. Because when they came back, it wasn't just a possibility that things would be different; there was a definite finality in it all. These past few years of exploration and experimentation were done and over and Locke was tipping into his mid twenties with both she and Haven close behind, and yeah, they were still young and dumb, but…

It was just all closing in.

She had better friends now, ones that she didn't think she'd ever lose and would always stay close with, but there was just always something about Haven and Locke that made her return to them when things got hard. They were like a piece of her childhood, changing in their own right, but still the same in the most important ways. Haven was still loud and abrasive while Locke existed to counteract that and put her in her place when she got too out of control. Navi wasn't the timid little girl that could be bossed around by them any longer, but sometimes she still wished to derive the comfort that had existed in that certainty.

The friends she made now, the people she chose to spend her time around, they were through choice and desire. Locke and Haven had always just been friends because their mothers were all best friends (and even that felt strenuous these days) and there was nothing deeper than that. Not complimenting factor. Nothing about Navi's personality meshed into theirs and, even, in some ways they both could be detrimental towards her.

But as they drank and sat around her apartment that day, just the three of them, like the good old days, the forgotten ones, before Ravan even, when no matter the day of the week, they were sleeping over at one another's houses and staying up late while learning their magics and they were all growing, experiencing things, at the same rate, but with different outcomes.

Haven and Locke didn't feel like a couple that night.

No.

As they bickered a bit, it felt tainted and different, old, like how it used to be, and Locke would look at Navi sometimes, how he used to, when they both felt the unease of the blonde's statements, because Haven was all amped up by the storm, and she was ranting some, try a lot, but it was okay.

It was all okay.

Just the three of them.

Again.

"What do you even do all day?" Haven yawned at one point as she'd drank and ranted herself into exhaustion, propped up against Locke's arm as she stared over at the pink haired woman. "Navi? Write? Sounds like it blows. If you were stronger, maybe I'd ask you to come to Bosco with me."

"No," the other woman said slowly as Locke frowned down at his girlfriend. "I'm good. But Haven…there is something I kinda wanted to ask you."

"Do it then." She even waved her hand. "'fore you lose your chance."

"It's just… I've been thinking a lot about, you know, when you were, uh...dead and… I was thinking about when our parents were trapped in Tenrou, in that deep sleep, and I just… Was it like that? Did time just pass with nothing? You woke up and… Or-"

"Time's for the living." She sat up some then and sobered while speaking. "It doesn't mean nothing. Outside of what we think it means. I… You know when they tell you that it all flashes before you? When you're gone?" Haven shook her head some as Locke seemed uncomfortable. "It doesn't. It just keeps going, on, forever. I… Just make sure this is really what you want, Navi. All of this. Because when you die...it's all there's gonna be."

The storm broke at some point in the night and, when they awoke the next morning, all that remained were puddles and debris, signs of what had been, but only echos of what had truly occurred.

Navi went with them, to grab a quick breakfast, though they all seemed rather down and Locke even was sneezing some, allergies he claimed, and for as magical as the night before had felt, reality was back to reclaim her victims.

"Write me," Navi said at one point and Haven laughed, thinking it a joke, but she only shook her head. "I'm serious. About...what's going on over there. In Bosco. If you can, I mean. I've never been. And...I'd like to know."

"Of course, Navi." Locke sniffled some, down at his food as they sat in a tiny cafe, not unlike they would have ten years prior. "I'll make sure."

It wasn't a particularly sad goodbye, when Navi walked them to the train station. Given they were hardly in contact with one another to begin with, between her and the couple it hardly felt like much would change. Still, she hugged Locke tightly when it was time and she and Haven didn't part on ill words, Navi wasn't sure they ever could again, and it just felt so much like a nonevent. On all sides.

Like they'd all lost touch years ago and were only just coming to that realization all together.

This wasn't a bad thing, of course. No. There were, after all, much more difficult ones awaiting them at home.

Home.

Locke had gotten his apartment a year or so after Haven left Magnolia that first time and it had come to feel rather welcoming. Even though it was small and dark and, fine, yeah, it did have a slight smell he never was able to quite pinpoint the cause of, it had been his first place. Of his very own.

Which meant it had also acquired a lot of clutter as he'd navigated adulthood for the first time alone.

Haven had been working on packing shit up for about a week, as Locke finished up on his first S-Class job, and though they ventured to visit Navi upon his return, it was back to grinding through clean up upon their return.

His mother told him to pack up anything he wanted to keep and they'd store it at their house until they returned, which was a nice offer, but perhaps a bit too indulgent as Locke struggled more now with the confirmation of having a place for things when it came to tossing things out.

"That's trash."

Haven, however, rarely had such problems.

She was assuring that statement, however, towards Ajax, her younger cousin, who'd come by to help them out some. He was the first one to offer to help them move and, though there were also other options on the table, Haven chose him and only him, that day, to allow into the apartment, and Locke said nothing about it. Because he knew, even if Haven didn't, why it had to be this way.

Why he, in particular, needed some of her undivided attention.

"No," Locke found himself griping as, instead, he found Haven had chosen Ajax simply for his willingness to do whatever she asked, whenever she asked. "That is not. It's mine. Put it with the others."

"Fucking hell, Locke," Haven griped as, at the older guy's complaint, Ajax had pulled the notebook out of the trash bag and moved to set it, instead, in the box with the others. "Are you going to keep them all? I mean, look how old that one is. What spell shit do you need from it?"

"I need," he told her simply, "all of them, like I've already told you. Every single one of them. And I will continue to remind you of that every single time you ask. So-"

"Who keeps old journals?" She was actually in the kitchen, cleaning out the fridge, while the two guys were in the living room, piles of shit from the rest of the apartment pulled in there, for them to go through. "You're such a girl."

"Girls keep diaries, Haven," Ajax assured his cousin. "Not journals."

"What's the difference?" she complained.

"Well...girls write in one and guys write in the other." Ajax looked to Locke. "Right?"

But he was growing tired of the pair. Quickly.

He'd been whining in the days prior, Ajax had, first about not getting to accompany Locke on his S-Class job, and then about how Haven should just quit kidding already and offer him to go with them. To Bosco.

"I'm ready," he'd insisted, but she'd only used harsh insults and dismissive quips to subdue him.

Now though, when time was of the essence and he clearly had them both together, where he could hopefully get the answer he desired from one of them, Ajax seemed to be talking about everything other than what they were packing for. Why they were going away. Where they were going. He, instead, made passing remarks about journals and it was just as well, Haven thought.

She was really hoping everyone acted this way.

Indifferent. Distant. Or even just fine with this decision. She knew Locke's parents weren't too pleased, but her own should have seen this coming. If anything, after all she'd gone through, they were lucky she stayed around as long as she did. Really, they were. Or that she was wearing their dumb family guild marking again.

Everything before now had been her making nice. Appeasing them. Now, back to her full capacity, it was time to get back to doing what she wanted. Which, honestly, was doing whatever the fuck she wanted.

And currently, that happened to be drawing her across the border. With Locke.

Definitely with Locke.

But it would be asinine to her, for them to get all upset by her departing. She was never going to stay. She hardly belonged here before death, but after…

No.

They had to have always known.

And maybe they did. Of course they did. But it didn't make the situation any easier.

"I," Locke announced eventually as he lifted a small stack of boxes, "am going to start walking these over to my parents' place, alright? Keep working. And don't make him throw my shit out, Haven."

She made a face instead of a rebuttal, but only because she was going to be defying him in another way; by not cleaning at all.

The second she was sure he was definitely gone, she snagged two sodas and, tossing one at Ajax head, came to find a clean spot on the carpet for them both to sit down.

"Let's take a break," she suggested and he was quick to follow her lead.

Always.

Ajax had been no stranger when it came to Locke and Haven's place. Even to point of overstaying a bit, in some cases. He'd always favored his older cousin over most everyone else and, after all that had gone on in the previous year, it made sense that he'd want to keep her as close as possible.

It was strange, but Haven never rightly disliked him in the same way she did most the rest of her family. Ajax was always too young to bully or boss around and instead functioned best as, well, kind of a fan. Maybe. He was Haven's first and most impassioned and, well, she kinda ate it up at times.

"What do you think you're going to do?" he asked eventually, as they sipped at their sodas while listening to Locke's music lacrima. "In Bosco?"

"I dunno." Haven really didn't. Erza hadn't been too forthcoming with any of what she and Locke would be getting into. "Probably kicking ass though."

He was quick to nod then, Ajax was, as he was certain of this as well. Still, glancing over at the woman, he said, "How long do you think you'll be gone for though?"

"'jax, I dunno," she griped with a frown. "I mean, I'm hoping to take part in a colossal drawn out change in another continent."

"So...six months?"

"Jack-"

"It's ust that you...you only got back a little while ago," he complained then. "And… I could go with you. If you wanted."

"I don't."

'But-"

"This isn't your dream," she told him simply. "Your calling. You have to stay here and figure out what yours is."

"But it's Locke's?" he retorted, sour now.

"Being with me," Haven corrected him, "is Locke's dream. The continuation of it, anyways. He wanted to be an S-Class wizard. Done. He captured that. Now he wants to figure out our life together. Part of that is helping me do the things I want. He's really good at that."

She smiled then, in a sneering kind of way, but Ajax refused to play into her and ugh.

Ugh.

"I always leave," she told him then, rather bluntly. "Always. Why is this bothering you so much? Huh? What's changed?"

"You died, Haven," he told her simply, lifting his eyes from his soda just to stare into her deep blues. "And we were all miserable because of it. I just thought that… When you came back to life, It hought that it was because you were going to be here, with us, now. That you were going to live here and take jobs with me and that...we'd be close."

"We are close."

"How could we be? Haven? When you're always gone?"

"That's not… I send you gifts," she told him then. "Do you know how hard it would be for me to get together jewels? To send you things?"

"I don't want your dumb trinkets." His eyes fell again and he told her, "I just want you."

"You know that I've been planning this, Jack. Since the summer."

"Yeah, but now it's real and I just… Why can't I go?"

"Because I said you can't."

Turning from her then, he said simply, "Maybe by the time you come back, I won't be around. Maybe I'll take off too."

"Good." She stood then, finished with the conversation it seemed, "This place is the pits."

Ajax was gone by the time Locke returned. He didn't have time to question Haven on this fact though as, instead, he had to explain another.

"Dad's gonna help me carry boxes," he began as he entered the apartment. "And on the way back over, we ran into-"

"You need help and you don't even come ask your super manly uncle, Haven?" Elfman entered the apartment as well, a scowling Gajeel not far behind. "I should have been the first person you asked!"

"Gah!" Gajeel was finding it difficult to quell his desire to bash the big oaf's skull in. "Do you ever shut the fuck up? And Locke, what the hell happened to this place?"

"It's," he complained to his father as Haven was forced to endure a bone-crushing hug from her uncle, "a process."

"And what the fuck is this music, huh? You have shit taste."

"If you didn't want to help, Dad-"

"Elfman, put me down!" Haven, as always, had to resist shocking her uncle. "And I didn't ask you to help because Locke can do it on his own. It's not that much stuff."

It was a lot of stuff.

But Locke had a hard time parting with things. He was a very emotional person.

Haven? Not so much.

When all was said and done, the hour was late and Elfman carried her single box of possessions for her while Gajeel and Locke lugged his final ones some feet ahead of them as the blonde instead trailed along behind her uncle. This originally had been to escape trading barbs with Gajeel, which she could tell was quickly getting on Locke's nerves, but it seemed hanging back with Elfman wasn't the best of options either as, of course, he quickly turned their silent journey into something more.

"I know you'll probably be getting a lot of this the next few days," he began and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "so I just wanted to get it out of the way early, huh? I bet the others won't even think of tellin' ya goodbye until that going away party at the end of the week-"

"The," Haven repeated, loudly, as ahead of them, Locke nearly tumbled over his own feet, "what?"

"It's just our families, Haven," he defended, glancing over his shoulder with a sheepish look. "Don't act surprised."

"Or do," Elfman suggested. "Save it for the party. I can't remember of big sis said it was supposed to be one or not, but… Anyways, Haven, I just wanted to say-"

"I know, Elf," she cut him off with a frown. "You'll miss me or whatever. Okay, yeah, fine. I'll miss you too."

"That's great!" he assured her with booming approval. "But not exactly what I wanted to tell you. I mean, sure, I wanted to say goodbye, but there was more to it. It's just, well… Your aunt and I don't really have kids, you know. And we love your sister a lot. She's really great. And Ajax, he's such a man. But you were the first baby that any of us ever had. And it was hard, the first time you went out to do your own thing. But I knew it was for the best, because you were just too much of a man, you know? To stick around. You had to spread your wings. And that's great! But then...when we thought you died on that cliff, I… It brought back a lot of things I thought I'd buried, over Lisanna's death, and when I went home, your aunt and I… We just spoke. About a lot of things."

He was confusing Haven (as well as Gajeel and Locke, who were trying really hard to walk faster to get away from the awkward situation that was brewing), but she only continued to walk along beside her uncle, silent for once as he seemed lost in his rambling.

"I know that she's not always the easiest person to get along with. Evergreen." Elfman looked down then, at his niece, just to be assured she was still listening. "She's a special lady. I think the two of you are just too alike, really, to get along too well."

Haven didn't think that was the reason.

At all.

"She cares about you though," he insisted then. "Whether she can tell you or not. And when you died, we just… She told me about how much it hurt her. I mean, of course, it hurt us all, but Ever's kinda hard to get through to. But she regret it. A lot of it. The tension between the two of you. I bet you've noticed how much more she's tried to connect with you since you came back to us."

Nope.

Elfman sighed then with a shake of his head. "I guess I'm just tellin' you all of this because… You changed me and your aunt's life. So I know that you'll be able to do the same for other people, over there in Bosco. You're a special person, Haven. You're my niece! You have the same Strauss blood flowing through you. The same kind that motivated my parents to get up each and every day, breaking their backs just to support us. Or the kind that made your mother the powerhouse she is. You'll do great, fighting the good fight and all that. We'll miss you, of course, but I'm just so happy to see you happy. Again. It's all I've wanted. After all that's gone on."

She thought he'd cry. At least sniffle. But there was none of that from the man for once and, as they neared in on the Redfox's, Haven found herself trailing along behind her boyfriend and his father even more, her uncle still remaining in step with her. She didn't find that she had anything to say to the man, she rarely did, but something about being around him, even if it was just for a few seconds longer, really mattered in that moment.

It was a weird next few days.

Locke finished off clearing out his place and Haven mostly found herself hanging around the guildhall when she wasn't helping out. Both her aunts were around frequently and she spent one day listening to Lisanna and Bickslow bicker while providing snide commentary and the next being the one getting snide remarks thrown her way by Evergreen. Freed was actually around, even, the latter half of the second day, and he rarely seemed to be anymore, but he was that day and when he mentioned in passing to Evergreen that he needed some help with something, she was quick to ditch out on her bitchy aunt and offer it up.

Freed seemed surprised, but accepted readily.

"I was hoping more she might know where your cousin is," he admitted to the blonde, "but your help is much appreciated."

He was, unfortunately, carrying a few heavy tomes down from the library back to his apartment and it felt like a sick twist and punishment for her allowing Locke, his father, and Elf to do all the heavy lifting the day before.

Still, though she and Freed were silent on their walk back to his place, each trudging along with the heavy tomes, when she was finally able to set her own down on his kitchen table, she didn't immediately turn to leave as he expected. No. Instead she seemed to linger, running a finger over the ornate lettering on one of the tomes, almost as if she were waiting for something. And though he did hope to dig into his studies, Freed sighed before speaking.

"It must be a strange feeling for you," he offered, catching her gaze then. Nodding his head, the letter mage said simply, "Leaving in an orderly, timely manner. Planned and determined. Rather than in a rushed fleeing of the scene."

Haven frowned some, thinking that he was mocking her at first, or a least poking fun, but something about his demeanor, as well as how well she knew him, told her that this wasn't the case.

"It's," she replied stiffly, "different."

"Yes, well, I hope it is somewhat of a comfort at least," he said with a nod. "To your family. Being able to say goodbye properly for once."

"Freed..."

"Hmm?"

She seemed troubled then, the blonde did, but this was common between the two of them. But for once, it wasn't due to the man talking in riddles or her blowing up over perceived slights. It was something else. Something that felt weird on her tongue and she'd never really considered, not once, because the answer felt so plain and obvious, but something about the man's last sentence made her question herself.

This alone felt like a feat.

"Aren't you part of my family?"

Haven looked cross, at her own words, while Freed, who had been listening expectantly, ready to come back with some intelligent reply or sage advice, but then her words were comprehended and it just…

He coughed, bested by Haven for perhaps the first time, and turned away from her some as he cleared his throat.

Freed thought she would run off, escape the awkward situation, like usual, but when he turned back, she was still just standing there, one hand continuing to rest on the book before her, awaiting his reply.

"I guess I am," he admitted with a slight nod. "I suppose I always have been, yes."

Haven nodded in return, though her eyes had fallen and her cheeks looked slightly tinted, and it wouldn't be the last time she saw him. She knew that he'd be at the stupid party Elfman had spoiled the surprise of, but that would be different. Because he would be hanging off her father's every word then and she knew she'd be in a bad mood over the whole thing and this would be the last time she saws the man, really saw the man, for a good while.

She wouldn't see anyone again for a good while.

And it didn't affect her, when she ran away, that first time. Or when she left them behind in Crocus. Or when she and Ravan took off from the gauntlet. Because before, each and every time she left, she knew she'd eventually be back. She just knew it. In her heart. And fine, yes, she was, now, but not before dying. Not before having the sheer absolute fucking inconceivable luck of having an insane grandfather so obsessed with her that he managed to keep her alive for purely nefarious purposes.

Haven always said it, always knew it, how chosen and special she felt, but fuck, fuck, you don't get a chance like that again. That was her one, true safety net and it was destroyed now. There was no guarantee, no assurance that, yes, if she left, if she ran off for a year or two or three, that when she she returned...if she even returned...that it would be to find things as relatively stable as they were currently.

Of all the things that had hit her in the past few months, as she adjusted to life reanimated, this probably punched her gut the deepest. Rather than doubling over though, she only found herself staring hard at Freed then, as if wagering him to add anything. When he seemed unwilling to risk it, she did so favor him.

"You told me once," she whispered then, "that when something's over, it always ends up back where it's supposed to be."

"Did I?" He cleared his throat one last time before nodding slowly and saying, "I'm sure I had a reason for this, but-"

"I just… When I go again, I don't...want it all to go back to how it was," she explained. "With my parents. I don't want them to go back to how things were. Laxus...shouldn't drink so much and my mom… I just don't want to disappear again and everything go to shit. For them."

Freed took in a breath, held it for a moment, before telling her simply, "No one can control the actions of another."

"Yeah, I know, but-"

"Did it feel like your fault? The majority of it? If not all? When you saw it all, played out before you." He made a noise of sympathy, perhaps, in the back of his throat as Haven was the one to turn away then. "I have heard, from others, about what you claim to have seen while you were kept alive in suspension."

"In death," she retorted softly bitterly. "I was dead."

But Freed was hardly the man to argue such things.

"It would be quite effective, yes?" He even hummed then, but it was a sad one. "It would be as if...staring in your own play. Seeing things as if you were the most important piece. How could you not take away from such a thing that everything hinged on you? Every mistake, ever bad moment, all laid upon your shoulders. But that's not how life works, is it? For every second you saw between yourselves and your parents or yourselves and your friends, there were a billion others that occurred, for them, separate from you, perhaps shaded by, but never wholly containing. Were there things you could have done better in your life? Yes. Were there times your parents needed you to be better and you dropped the ball? Of course. But you didn't bring them to where they were. They did that. And it is the two of them who must continue figuring their new path in life. Whether you stay, whether you go… Their lives are their own. Just as yours. And what happens to them is determined solely by their own actions."

Haven didn't realize how exposed she felt by the man's words until she was alone, out on the street again, making something of a soft goodbye to the man before departing. She wanted to return home, but Locke was finishing up around there, and stressing, which meant she couldn't bitch to him without sending him into a meltdown, and it was just better she thought.

To go back to the bar and drink.

But no one was around now. Or at least not her aunts or Bickslow. Marin was busy working and, even months out, she'd never really made any real friends in the guild. She never had been able to, honestly. Locke and Navi had been gifted to her by her mother and Ravan by Marin's virtue. As much as she hated the place, even with its new remodel, she couldn't think of a single person who backgrounded their entire existence by its presence.

It felt nice anyways, against her back when she climbed the stairs and escaped out onto the balcony. A familiar comfort. Sinking to the ground, she stared out at the city, a little drunk and a little miserable.

"Marin said you'd be up here."

Locke found her, of course, eventually. Closer to sundown. She'd seen his approach, of course, from her apex positioning, and knew it wouldn't be long til she heard his voice once more. Still, she didn't rise.

"Did you finish up?" she questioned and he nodded his head, moving to join her there on the ground. He knew better, after all, than to lord himself over the woman. It would never win well, regarldess of his intentions.

"Yep," he assured her with a nod of his head. "I got all my shit I'm keeping at my parents. Gave my couch to some guys I know who need one. The fridge stays because it's the apartments and so does the mattress, actually." And then he snickered as she didn't even glance at him, still just watching over the city below. "It's weird, isn't it? To think about? Like, there's a lotta personal shit you do, you know, on a mattress. That the people who all lived there before me did on it. That, uh, I did on it. Even just sleeping. All your sweat and shit. It's fucking gross. And then you just pass it onto the other person."

Haven took in a breath before, while letting it back out, she fell over some, to rest her head against her shoulder. Closing her eyes just to fight off the urge of rolling them, she replied simply, "You couldda just always bought a new one. Idiot. That is gross. Moron."

He paused too before snickering harder then. "I guess that's right. But that'd kinda be a waste, right? It's no worse than staying in an inn, huh?"

"You're buying a new one," she ordered him then with a sigh. "When we get back from Bosco. At our next apartment."

Locke wasn't laughing then, glancing down at her instead, before grinning and telling her, "Maybe we'll buy a house."

"Maybe."

"With a yard. And a dog."

"No," she retorted, "dogs."

"You can't have one bad experience with something and outlaw it, Haven."

Yes. She could.

"Imagine," he kept up then, "if we had a pool. Like our own pool. I don't know if you know this, but I am kind of S-Class."

"Only kind of," she agreed.

"When we get back, I'll snag us a few jobs and then we'll probably have enough jewels to fuck right back out of here if we wanted.." He hardly even seemed to think about it, opening his palm so her fingers could snake between his. "We can do everything. Everything else. When we get back."

"Locke?" She didn't even open her eyes when she felt his on her. "Shut up."

And he could do that.

He wanted to do that.

When they came back down, the night crowd was in full swing and Locke got some jeers from some other guys, to join them in drinking and Haven might have let him go, but before she could slink off back to the apartment alone, they both found someone much more pressing awaiting them.

"There the two of you are. What perfect timing."

By which Erza meant she'd just finished busting the heads of two lowly mages she found goofed off a bit too much, hanging around her hall, unproductive and disruptive, only to note Haven and Locke across the bar floor. Rushing over, she was quick to suggest they follow her back to her office.

And Haven hadn't been there. Not since...not since it was her father's.

It didn't exactly hold pleasant memories for either she or Locke.

The place was Erza's now and booze no longer reigned surpreme. No. She had little trinkets and gifts she'd gotten, displayed on the bookshelf and desk, from cities she'd saved and won the hearts of. A suit of armor was propped in the corner, not one Locke and Haven were familiar with her having worn, but one of another age and time. Air wasn't so tense and dry in there now. No.

It felt like a different place entirely.

"The day following tomorrow," she surmised, walking behind her desk, but not taking her seat, "is when the two of you are to leave, yes? Good. I am quite excited. Of course, considering what you are setting out to do, it is not as if I expect to hear of an immediate success. Although, it would be a nice accolade to hang among my many others."

As Erza pondered and Haven made a face, Locke only bowed his head to his master before saying, "We are both prepared and hopeful for our venture, Master, but if I could ask you something-"

"Yes, of course." Shaking her head free of her fanciful thoughts, Erza gave him the most serious face she could muster. "Locke. What is it?"

"It's just, well...we really don't know what we're getting into," he pointed out. "At all. I mean, we know that you said these people have the same interest as Haven, as me too, but… Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"Sadly," she told him with a bit of a shrug and a sigh, "I cannot. I merely know of the group in passing. Renegades bent on overthrowing an unjust system. Of banding together against something they can't quite fathom destroying on their own." She looked off then, as if torn, before remarking, "It feels hollow, to speak on such a thing, while not partaking in it. I wish I was. I wish I had, in the years past. Even as the Master now, I could send all of my guild to take up arms against the unfair practices in Bosco, but what then? Surely we would be acting in our country's own best interest. Not to mention risking a war. No. No. I have to act in Fairy Tail's own best interest now. And that would be staying how we are currently, just enough in the good graces of those above us that we are continued to aid in what we are allowed."

Looking back to them, she nodded at each in turn before saying, "But this does not mean that I cannot part with the two of you, for the time being, to act on our behalf. If not our full force, I am certain you bring our best. It's not so different then, Haven, is it? Than when your great-grandfather helped build this guild. You must stand for something. All of us. I'm certain that both he and our other founders smile on you both, for finding something so noble."

Locke seemed touched by her words, but Haven only looked off, not wanting to get on the woman's bad side (ever).

"I expect the two of you to uphold all that it means," Erza kept up. "To be a part of the most important guild in the land. In any land. And I expect you both to return. No matter what."

She sneered that time, Haven did, before remarking, "I've already beat death. And with Locke there to back me up, I'll probably return without even a scratch."

He made a face, Locke did, before elbowing his girlfriend and assuring the swordswoman, "We'll do all you said, Master. And more."

Erza let out a huff of agreement before remarking, "We rarely get such chances. To prove ourselves so clearly. Do well. Protect one another. Achieve your goal. I hope to see you both again soon."

It felt so formal. So sterile. But everything always did, for the two young adults, when it came to the woman. But she spoke warmly, regardless of her words, and when Locke smiled, she returned it.

Leaving the Master's office, he was once against called out to, but even though it would be his last night to raise some hell in the hall, Locke declined, following Haven out into the night. He had this dumb grin on his face, but when Haven called him out on it, he could offer no explanation, and it was just as well.

She was too tired, from doing shit all that day, to question him on it further.

When they fell into bed, back at their empty apartment, it was together in silence and Haven forced Locke to lay a heavy arm over her. He didn't question it aloud though his red eyes were full of inquiry, but Haven only shut her own tightly, begging on sleep as quickly as it would come.

They both awoke the next morning to some soft rain, but not enough for a thunder storm, and Haven was kind of pissy over that, so Locke was kind of glad when he was able to escape her one last time.

"I'm gonna go over to see my parents. Alone. To spend the morning with them and stuff." He pressed a kiss to her head though, in parting. "I'll see you at the super secrete surprise party back there tonight, huh?"

He didn't leave her much room for argument, but it was by design. Locke wanted to be with them, then, for a few more hours. Alone.

It was so early that his parents were just awaking, but his mother ushered him in out of the storm regardless.

"I was just getting ready to make breakfast," Levy remarked as he hung his coat.

Locke grinned at this, looking rather boyish in that moment despite his age, as he assured her, "Good. I'll help."

His father and Pantherlily were just finding their way to the kitchen as well, noting the presence of the man a mile off, but making no big deal over this fact. Lily came to observe his stirring abilities, as he wiped up the pancake mix, while Gajeel only griped some, at his wife, over how the morning paper had gotten damp.

It felt so normal that when he took his normal seat at the table, with Pantherlily in his lap, Locke almost forgot it wasn't.

"That woman of yours," Gajeel finally grumbled around breakfast and Locke rolled his eyes, knowing regardless of what came next, it couldn't be any good, "I always told you, you know?"

Locke frowned before admitting, "I don't understand what you're saying."

"Because his sentence didn't make sense," his mother replied and Pantherlily snickered over this, but Gajeel refused to be mocked. Or at least didn't play into it. Not that morning.

"Made perfect sense," he defended. "What'd I always tell you about her, huh? Always. Fucking always. Not to let her run you. 'cause she wouldn't lead you anywhere good. And where are you heading off to tomorrow morning?"

"I'm S-Class, Dad," Locke retorted simply. "It's an S-Class job. An SS-Class one, really, when you think about it. I understand why you wouldn't get it."

Gajeel dropped his fork then, half rising out of his seat as he growled, "Look here, you brat-"

"What?" Locke challenged back, half rising from his own, but Levy only sighed as, displaced, Lily fluttered into the air, observing the men with a slight frown.

"You can just," Levy finally assured them both, "tell one another how much you'll miss each other, you know."

Gajeel snorted, loudly, as he slammed back down in his seat. "What's to miss? Some annoying punk that thinks he's a big shot now 'cause he conned Erza's dumbass into thinking a medic is worthy of some sorta phony title? Don't mean shit. I'm glad you're gettin' out of here, even, Locke. So I don't have to hear your sorry ask brag about it constantly."

Sitting back down, Locke stabbed at his breakfast as Pantherlily fell back into his lap. With a shake of his head, the young man said, "At least I'm doing something important. When's the last time you did anything important?"

"I," Gajeel retorted with a glare, "went all the way back to your dumb girlfriend's grave and-"

"Played around with a dead body?" Lily questioned helpfully.

"I don't even know why I try with you. Any of you." He looked away then, Gajeel did, from his family. "I've always tried to protect you, you know. From her. From the Dreyar girl. And here you are running back across the country with her. And for what? Huh? Probably isn't even worried about Bosco. Just finding a good place to bury our body."

Locke frowned when he realized that, actually, Haven had made that exact threat before, back at Navi's place. Luckily, his mother shooed away those thoughts as, softly and mostly to herself, she muttered, "If he did, Gaj, you could always go dig back up his body for us, huh?"

He stewed then, the dragon slayer did, as his cat, boy, and wife all laughed at his expense, before, with a shake of his head, saying, "I ain't coming to get you, you know. Locke. Now. This time. You're a big boy. You get into trouble over there-"

"What do I need with you anyways?" He stopped laughing then, Locke did, as he told his father, "I'm S-Class. You're not. What good would you do me?"

Glaring across the table at his son then, Gajeel narrowed his eyes before remarking around clenched teeth, "If you get into any fucking trouble, serious trouble, that you can't handle-"

"I know, Dad." Locke went back to his food at the same time his father picked his fork up once more. "You'll be the first person I contact."

As Locke soaked in the finally day with his parents, Haven found herself avoiding hers. Or at least one half. When she arrived at her parents house, to find Laxus still snoozing and her mother busy in the kitchen, she made sure to make her intentions known quickly.

"Haven," her mother greeted as the girl entered through the backdoor. Mira was quick to turn and face her, hiding a bowl of something she was mixing behind her back. "I wasn't baking a cake or anything. So-"

"Okay," Haven agreed easily enough, not really wanting to get into the whole surprise party nonsense. "I actually came over to ask you something."

"Oh, yeah?" Her mother hesitated then, as she'd come over to hug the blonde, but she was soaked from the rainstorm and, well… "Did you need something? Or did you just want to-"

"I wanted to ask if you wanted to...go to breakfast."

"You want me to make you some, you mean?" Mira questioned, tilting her head to the side as her oldest daughter only huffed a bit, looking off.

"No," Haven repeated. "I wanted to know if you wanted to go out. To breakfast. Together. Or lunch, if you want to wait for the storm to pass-"

"Is Locke outside waiting on us?" the woman kept up. "Or-"

"Mom, I'm asking you to go out with me." Haven was growing annoyed now and her tone showed this. "Just us. Do you not want to? Or-"

"Yes!" Mira quickly started out of the kitchen. "Let me just go change and- Oh. The cake. I… Hold on, okay?"

And that's how Laxus' was woken up from his uncomfortable slumber. He'd spent most of the previous night up coughing and was not pleased, at all, when his demon came to practically pounce on him. And not the good time.

"Mira," he growled, though it was more out of confusion. "What are you-"

"Haven," she breathed and he immediately feared she'd run off, in the night, and ditched out on them before they could even say anything, but luckily, Mira continued, "is here, right now. She asked me to go to breakfast with her. Alone. Just the two of us."

Laxus blinked up at his wife, who seemed rather youthful in that moment, before asking, "Why did you have to wake me up though?"

"Because," she began as, with a sight, she did get to her feet once more, though she left him behind on the bed, "I need to start on the cakes for tonight's party, but if I'm going out-"

"No." Laxus was immediately defiant. Sitting up some, he took to crossing his arms as he hissed at her, "You can't go out to eat with our daughter, alone, without me, the day before she's supposed to leave, and then expect me to stay home and cook."

"Bake," Mira offered over her shoulder as she was rushing over to the closet then, to slip into a dress. "And dragon, please? Haven loves your cakes."

"She does not. She tolerates them." This realization only made his stomach hurt though. Huffing some, he told his wife simply then, "Why does she want to go out with you? It's probably a trap. If I know Haven at all, it's definitely a trap."

"Dragon, just play along, okay?" After slipping a dress over her head, she turned to face him and there was just something there, in her eyes then, that was hard to describe. While it made him look off, she added, "I've never had this before. With her. Just let me go to breakfast."

He frowned some, the man did, before muttering something about how she should hurry then, before the chance slipped away.

And it was going to, probably, as Haven was regretting her decision almost immediately.

Still, as her mother came back to join her, an umbrella in one hand, she couldn't deny how...good it felt, honestly, to see the light in the woman's eyes again.

The rain was still coming down rather well when they arrived at the nearest cafe. Mirajane had been talking, nonstop, the entire walk, while Haven followed along, not sullen or forced, but quiet and reserved for once.

"Was there something specific," Mirajane finally did question, eventually, once they were seated across from one another and all other topics of discussion felt overdone, "that you wanted to talk to me about? Haven? Before you left?"

But the blonde merely shook her head as she told the woman, "I just… I'm leaving tomorrow and thought that you'd wanna...do this. You did, didn't you?"

Even though she knew, had known, the entire walk over, that nothing really would get discussed or even ventured, Mira found herself nodding anyway.

"Of course, Haven," she assured her oldest before, with a soft grin, she added, "Maybe when you get back… We can do it more often. Or at all, even, really. Gosh, the only ever time I think the two of us went to get something to eat alone together was-"

"We can. I mean, if you want." Haven looked over the menu before her with a bit of a frown. "I don't even know what'll all be like. When I get back."

"You don't know what will be like?"

"Everything."

"Well," her mother began then, thinking a bit. "Your father and I will still be here, probably in the same house. And your sister, well, I think she wants to move apartments, but I really don't think she has many plans to stop working in the bar any time soon. And your aunts and uncles all seem happy, so-"

"It might be a long time," she cut the older woman off. "Mom. I don't… I don't know."

"Haven." Mirajane dropped her own menu then, so she could reach across the table to brush a hand across her daughter's cheek. "It doesn't matter. How long it takes. We'll all still be here when you get back. Haven't we always been?"

She thought she'd hate it. Really. That feeling. Her mother had that same sympathetic tone going then that she used with Marin and it was gross. Haven wasn't someone to be comforted. To take being comforted. The weak needed to be comforted. Not someone like her.

But...for all she'd learned in these past few months, one of the larger lessons was that, sometimes, she had to be accepting towards the things she usually rejected. Whether it was being more open with Locke or kinder to her sister, there were just so many things that made her uncomfortable to the nth degree that she just had to let go of. Give a chance to.

Try.

Being a better person in her second shot at life wasn't about being perfect; it was about trying. At all she'd failed before.

And she was finding, at least in that moment, as her mother smiled so sweetly at her for once, that for all she'd rejected it before, there was something so nice about accepting the woman's love.

The rain had cleared up by the time they left the cafe and Mirajane told Haven vaguely that she had something to do, still trying to keep up the ruse, and suggested maybe she go find Locke? And that maybe, later that night, he would make sure they all ended up back together? Maybe?

Haven played along, but only because she really didn't want to go back to her parents' home anyways. But she also didn't want to bother Locke just yet (or at all; being around Gajeel was hardly ever something she sought out), so she found herself walking around the town, kind of aimless and equally hoping time fell away faster, so it could be the next morning already, and she could escape already while also sorta hoping, well, to stick around. Just for a little while longer.

She didn't even notice it, really, when her feet led her to the hall, but then she was there again, like she'd been drawn to it all week, and there was nothing there for her, not anymore, but when she noticed the crowd of people gathered around out front, she knew there must be some sort of fight going on.

And of course there was, but it was the least interesting of the frequent duels that took place. Her younger sister Marin was once again getting her ass handed to her by the Salamander and Haven didn't get. Why Marin continued to agree to this.

Well, maybe she kind of did.

The idea of taking down a man of such mythic legends should drive any mage, no matter how obvious the outcome or how continuously you reached it.

But it didn't make sense that this would be something Marin was interested in.

Yes, she trained now. Yes, she was getting stronger and honing her skills. But for what? Haven felt like her purpose towards training had already been reached; she was able to save the hall. Prove herself in this ability. What more could Marin be working towards?

Sometimes Haven reasoned that it was Erza, forcing her, whether consciously or not, but this didn't seem to be the case. At least not anymore. Marin used to not care for much, other than the bar maybe, and Kai, always, but know she seemed driven and focused. Like she had a purpose. Even if it wasn't entirely clear yet.

Marin limped off to lick her wounds alone eventually, planning on quickly washing off in the bathhouse before getting back to work, but Haven, who'd mostly watched from afar followed after her.

It seemed to be a good hour for this, as no one was really around in the women's side of the bathhouse. Marin seemed surprised, even, when Haven entered after her, but smiled kindly to her sister all the same.

"I didn't think you'd come in today," Marin remarked as she stripped down. "You and Locke are still leaving in the morning, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Haven wasn't really in the mood for it, but she found herself doing as her sister; stripping down to take a soak. "Bright and early."

Marin sunk into the water first, letting out a long, eased breath at this, fully relaxed just by the comfort of her element. A slight steam rose from the water's surface and, the lower she sunk into it, the better her sore muscles and newly formed bruises felt. Still, she blushed some though, when she noted Haven's raised eyebrow, but there was no malice between them now.

There hadn't been in a long while.

"Master's really excited," Marin offered her sister, across the large tug of water, smiling even at the thought. "About the two of you heading back out. And I know you and Locke are too."

"I am," Haven agreed. "But Locke… He's kinda a wuss. He'll be sad about being away from his parents for so long. Moron."

Marin, who couldn't fathom the thought of going without hers, blushed some more before remarking, "W-Well, he is an S-Class wizard now. He'd be gone a lot more anyways."

Haven snorted, not really wanting to talk about the guy in that moment, though ust as quickly she was wading closer to her sister, shortening the gap between them.

"What about you, Marin?" she questioned as she came closer. "What are you going to do while I'm away?"

"W-Well, I guess what I've been doing. The past few months."

"Just working and training?" At her younger sister's nod, Haven shook her head. "You know that's not true. You have to be working towards something, don't you? What do you want, Marin? To work in the bar forever?"

"Yeah," the younger of the two answered easily enough. "I always have."

"Have you?" Haven was before her now and their similar blue eyes seemed locked with one another's. "Or is it just what you settled on because you didn't think you could do anything else?"

"I don't...want to take jobs, if that what you mean."

"There's more to being a mage than just taking jobs," Haven told her simply. "There's more to do as a mage than taking jobs."

"Are you...offering me to go with you? Or-"

"Gross. No." She splashed some water towards her younger sister, laughing. "I don't want you anywhere near Bosco. You're not even close to ready."

"Haven-"

"There's gotta be something more for you here though." The blonde even shrugged. "Or I guess you can just sit around and wait for the next demon to walk through the door."

They left the bathhouse area together, only to find Locke hanging around. He was having a last beer of sorts, with some of his friends, but the second he caught Haven's eye, he came right over.

"Over your loser parents already?" she asked to which he glared, but Marin, who was rushing to get behind the bar, did stop and glancing over at them.

"You are going back to your parents house later though, right? Locke?" she questioned softly. "With Haven?"

"She already knows about the party, Marin," he revealed once he was certain Mirajane wasn't about to be crushed by this. "And yeah, we'll head back over there together. All three of us. Once you get off, okay?"

Haven really wasn't looking to hang around for so long, but knew if she left, Locke would take off as well, and she wanted him to have fun with his guild friends one last time. Or at least be in the hall.

When she went down to the game room to escape the losers in the bar, she finally found where Ajax had gotten off to the past few days.

He was there with his father and two friends, the Dragneel twins, talking up some mad shit as they all shot pool. His father was the one leaning over the table then though, cue in his hand, about ready to take his shot, but then he saw Haven walk down the stairs and he straightened up.

"Come to see your favorite uncle, eh?" he asked with a bit of a taunt in his voice. "Before you take back off for the great unknown? Tell your cousin how much you'll miss her, babies."

"Haven!" The man's annoying dolls came to swarm around and Locke greeted them each personally, but the woman in question they were addressing hardly paid them any mind.

"I'm not leaving until the morning," Haven remarked as she came over to the table. "Finish your game. I play winner."

"No way. Piss off, Haven." Ajax glared at her from the other side of the pool table. "No one asked you to come down here."

Bickslow frowned at his son while Locke tossed a hand behind his head, confused, but Haven only glared at her actual cousin before looking to the twins.

"Scram," she ordered and though Iggy and Lucky were usually known for their defiance, but there was steel in the woman's voice then and it was better to just go find someone else to bug anyways. As they fled and both Bickslow and Locke looked on in confusion, Ajax and Haven only continued to glare at one another while the blonde only declared, "Rack 'em back up. Me and Locke against the two of you. Now."

"Eh, okay, I guess, little boss," Bickslow remarked after scratching at his head. "You got any money to wager? I was bein' nice to the boys here, but I'm ready to wipe you and your lapdog out."

Locke's frown grew. "Lapdog?"

But Haven only continued to eye her cousin as she declared, "Winner gets whatever they want."

Suddenly, Ajax was animated once more as he stopped his sulking over being forced to interact with his cousin and instead rushed to grab his pool stick.

"You're," he told her in the darkest tone he knew, "on."

"I'm not a fucking lapdog," Locke grumbled as Bickslow only shoved up the visor over his eyes to wink at the other guy, tongue falling from his mouth, allowing his guild marking to flap.

"I," Haven declared as she racked the balls, "break."

And Ajax should have known by that point, better than to make deals with the devil.

Locke, Haven, and Navi had spent far more hours down in the game room, when they were young, back when everyone's parents still at least somewhat had boundaries and rules. Ajax and the twins were given free reign from the jump, just about, and were going out on jobs and training far younger.

Plus...Haven and Locke had fathers that would have no problem with 'wiping them out'.

You swim or you drown.

Unfortunately for Ajax, Haven adamantly refused to do the latter.

He was whining too, his foul mood only growing as he ground his teeth in frustration when Locke and Haven both grinned in victory as his father pushed up his visor once more, though now it was in defeat.

Locke snickered, when he and Haven high-fived, still not quite understanding the importance in all of this, while Ajax continued to grovel, ever the sore loser.

"You," he declared with a heavy finger, "cheated."

"You," Haven retorted, "lost. Pay up."

"Let's see." Locke looked to the ceiling as he thought. "What do I want from you guys? Uh-"

"Shut up, Locke." His girlfriend even rolled her eyes. "You get no choice."

"Lapdogs," Bickslow muttered to his floating by babies, "rarely do."

Ajax was still glaring at his cousin, but she didn't care. She knew exactly what was on the line, the entire time. It was the reason she made the bet. If she faltered, he'd have asked to go with them and, while that definitely wasn't happening, she'd at least have to do weasel her way out of it.

But Haven never had any intention of losing. Not just because of what was at risk if she did, no, rather she liked the reward she had in mind.

"What do you want?" Ajax was asking then, arms folded over his chest. "Huh, Haven? Wht?"

"I want," she told him simply, and he was standing before her now, so it was easy to pat a hand on his shoulder, "you to be happy. While I'm gone. And to get stronger and figure out what it is you want to do, before I get back."

Ajax frowned while his father laughed uncomfortably, but just as quickly the teen was shoving the woman off and heading right back up the stairs and out of the game room. As his dad went after him, Locke only turned his gaze towards his girlfriend, mystified.

"You know," he remarked as she only frowned in preparation, "that might have been the most girly thing I've ever seen you do."

'

"Shut up, Locke."

"You're going soft on me," he declared, but then she slugged him, hard enough to bruise, so he shoved her some, and they didn't talk about the incident again.

Locke drank and hung around the bar til dark, when Marin was relieved of her shift by Kinana. Given the amount of people around though, Marin did try offer to stay on regardless.

"Go be with your family," Kinana ordered gently with an honest grin. "I'll handle things fine on my own here. Promise."

The night air was cool when the trio departed. Haven had gotten into a bit of an argument, because she had, with another one of the members and was still jawing, now just to the silent, somber Locke and the concerned Marin.

"What's your deal anyways?" Haven finally complained, glancing over at Locke as, once they'd walked about a block away from the guildhall, he took a long look over his shoulder. "Are you drunk or something?"

"No. I mean, yeah, but it's not that." He sighed some, shaking his head a bit as he told her. "I just… I guess I'm gonna miss it, is all."

"I'd accuse you of getting soft on me," Haven joked mildly, "but you've always been this way."

"It'll just be weird. Not going back there at least a few times a month." Locke sighed down at his feet. "That's all."

Haven showed her restraint in not pressing him while Marin reached over to pat at his arm. At the feeling of the younger Dreyar woman's touch, Locke did turn to smile down at her.

"What about you, Marin?" he questioned.

"Me?"

"Yeah." He even nodded. "You."

Marin blushed some, even though not much had been asked of her, before remarking, "W-Well, Kai's gone now, so the gardening stuff is all on me and-"

"No, Marin that's not what I meant." Locke even laughed a bit, maybe, as he raised his head then. "Kai's gone, Navi's gone, and...Ravan's gone too. Now Haven and I are leaving. I mean, not forever, but… Won't you miss us at all?"

"Of course I will." She was quick to shake her head. "I didn't mean to make you think that I wouldn't. I-"

"Take a breath," Haven remarked with a roll of her eyes. "You'll be fine wihtout us. Won't you?" Before her sister could respond, Haven kept up, "I mean, it will suck, of course, for you. To not be around the most important mage this guild has ever seen, and her dumb boyfriend; it would be horrible."

"Not that horrible," Locke griped, but Haven only stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'll miss you guys a lot," Marin continued to assure them though as the pair made faces at one another. "Honest. But… I just think that I do better. Or that I will do better, I mean. Alone."

Locke raised his eyebrows at this statement, finding it oddly direct coming for the teen, but Haven only tossed an arm around her sister's shoulder, nearly tugging her down in the process.

"You'll be running the place by the time we get back," her sister vowed. "Won't be too hard. Who's standing in your way?"

"W-Well-"

"I'll miss you," Locke offered then. When this got him a look from his girlfriend, he only insisted, "I will. Marin. I'll miss you a lot. You're kinda like my little sister too. And I love you. A lot. So-"

"How drunk are you?" Haven released Marin then just to shove at her boyfrined. "We're going to a party, you know."

"I mean it," he insisted. "Marin. I know that a lotta shitty things have happened these past few years, to you, but then some better ones kinda eclipsed it all and I just know that, you know, when a person gets lonely...sometimes the bad things creep back up. So… If you're misisng Kai or your sister, just… Remember that we'll all be back soon. Eventually. All of us, I bet. And you get to kinda hold things down while we're gone. Isn't that what you always wanted?"

Maybe.

When they got to Locke's parents house, Haven and Marin found their relatives holding no more restraint in Black Steel's house than they would the Thunder God's. Elfman and Bickslow were arguing over something while Laxus moped about, and Ajax was being scolded by his mother about something while poor Levy, Pantherlily, and Gajeel had to question just why they'd invited them all over in the first place.

"I," Gajeel grumbled to his cat when the Exceed expressed this dismay aloud, "didn't."

But Levy certainly had.

She and Mirajane both made over their respective child that night, with Locke soaking it up and Haven trying very hard to be a good sport about the whole thing. The blonde just had to ekep reminding herself that, if she just played along and gave them this, then she wouldn't have to see any of them for a good number of months, if not longer. As always, anyways, the part of her that derived praise won out and if there was every a night when her family was willing to indulge in this, it was then.

"I'm sorry about all that, you know, alcohol," Levy did find herself mentioning to Mirajane at some point in the night.

They were all in the Redfox's nice backyard, where Gajeel was grilling while arguing with Elfman over proper grill procedures, and they couldn't have asked for a better night. Especially after such a damp morning. Pantherlily and Locke tossed around a ball with Ajax while Evergreen made snide comments about the night to Freed and Marin and it was just...a vision of how it could be. Between the fmailies.

"I didn't think about...well, you know," the woman continued as Mira's eyes drifted from where they were placing things down on a folding table, to accompany Gajeel's array of grilled meats, and instead onto her own husband, who was kind of stalking around the yard, not really interacting well with anyone. "Gajeel and Lily just went and bought a bunch of stuff and before I even thought to stop them-"

"He'll be alright," Lisanna was quick to butt in. She was helpign them set up as well. "He has to get used to it again eventually. How else will he ever go back to the guildhall?"

But Mirajane wasn't so sure Laxus ever planned to.

"Don't go throwing my name around too often," Evergreen found herself saying about then, as Freed noted the women in need of help and rushed off to offer it, while Marin took to tending to poor Ajax, treating him much as she did Kai, when Locke and Lily seemed intent on never passing him the ball. It was to Haven then though, that the woman of stone spoke, as she sipped on her drink. Hardly glancing down at where her niece had wandered, too close to her, the woman said, "In Bosco. Once or twice, fine, but I'd like my associtates not to associate me with whatever lowdown dealings you're going to find yourself in."

Haven sneered at the woman before remarking, "Yeah, well, try not to choke on an wine while I'm gone."

"Believe me," Ever sighed as, glass empty, she only stared down into the reminents with a sad grin, "I won't."

It was while Haven was the one that went to bother Gajeel then, making snide remarks on the charring on the weenies, that Levy came to grab her arm and pull her away instead.

"I," she told her son's girlfriend, eyes sparkling, "have something for you."

"Oh, yeah?"

Nodding, Levy produced a slip of paper from her pocket, presenting it to the blonde. "It's a name. Of the demon. I was able to decipher it. I haven't had time to do much else and Locke made off with most of the medical papers, but-"

"This is good," Haven cut the woman off with a nod, though she didn't open the paper. Just put it in her own pocket. "This is enough."

But it was more.

And when Levy moved them to hug her, tightly, like her mother had when she first arrived, Haven immediately went stiff on her, but the older woman only laughed, holding her tighter still.

"We'll miss you too, Haven," the woman assured the blonde as, beside them, her husband took to grumbling down at the weenies. Smiling, Levy added, "Both of us."

The stars were out that night and were more than enough light for them, in combination with the moon, as they all stood around, holding their plates and eating and having a nice night. Haven was ribbing Ajax, just a bit, over both the game of pool and his poor showing when playing ball with the other guys, just to gauge his reaction. When he retorted in kind, a silly grin on his face, the same his father typically wore, Haven knew he'd be okay.

What other choice did he have?

A wager was a wager.

His parents came to say their goodbyes though, while the others were all eating, with Bickslow tossing an arm around his niece's shoulders and Lisanna coming to grin at her.

"You know the kid's good at pool, Lissy?" Bickslow whistled. "Wouldda cleaned me out, was I not already broke."

"Is that right?" Lisanna hummed some, picking at the plate in her hand. "Do they need pool players in Bosco?"

"That's what I've heard," Bickslow assured his wife and Haven rolled her eyes, but they were laughing and feeling good for once. Her aunt and uncle.

She wouldn't take it from them.

Haven couldn't shake that strange feeling she'd had, the entire day, if not week, and while the night wore on and things settled over the backyard, she found herself escaping into the night.

The guildhall was dark when she arrived back at it, Kinana doing just the bare minimum in closing duties after a hectic dinner rush all alone. Haven was thankful for this as she didn't exactly want to explain to the woman why she had to let her in after hours.

She wasn't even so sure she could properly explain it to herself.

It was strange, as it always was, when the lights were all out. When it was empty. But the dark guildhall had been just as much a home to her in her early years as her own house. Things were different now, of course, as it had been rebuilt only a few months prior and all the shadows no longer aligned with her memory, but it was the same old Fairy Tail.

It would always be the same old Fairy Tail.

Regardless of if she was a part of it or not.

They'd explore the hall together, many times, she, Locke, and Navi, when they were growing up. Marin as well. It was nothing short of a vast playground, from the massive grounds to the adjoining pool, the bubbling, steamy bathhouse and the noisy game room, there was a lot for them to get into during their formative years.

But there was one place they knew better than to go.

A game of sorts was made, with the darkened, back staircase. It wasn't even a common knowledge part of the guildhall's layout, honestly. Haven and Marin always knew of it, as they would see it across the hall from the staircase that led down to the cellars, where stock for the bar was kept. While their mother and aunt frequently put that one to good use, the one across from it never seemed to be mentioned or thought about by most.

Until Haven snuck Locke and Navi back there one day to peek down it.

Quickly, the game was formed of who was willing to go down the most steps before chickening out, either over the eeriness or the risk of getting caught, and they'd never rightly completed it. No. The staircase seemed to go on indefinitely, down into the bellows beneath the hall.

Locke told them, back when he was the oldest and therefore the most knowledgeable, that it probably led to Hades and that, obviously, wasn't right any longer, but as Haven stood in the doorway, that in that late hour, cast in only moonlight, she had to wonder if it was better if it did.

"I thought you'd be here."

She heard him before she saw him. Could feel the static off him as, the only souls in the hall, it seemed to waft her way much easier, all the way in the back hall.

Haven didn't glance over at her father in the darkness, expressed no annoyance from his presence. Only told him simply, "What's at the bottom of these stairs? Laxus?"

He came closer then, having not been sure what he'd find when he arrived, but certainly never considering this. At all. He'd followed Haven's scent here, yes, but he'd somehow known, when she disappeared from the party, exactly where she got off to. And as the others drank and laughed their way throuhg hardly noticing, he slipped away as well.

He wasn't sure why.

Every other attempt Laxus had made up to that point at forming any more of a connection with his daughter had fallen through. Maybe he just wanted to get away from the drinking. But for some reason, he felt like there was more to it than that.

Still somewhat cautious (he really didn't want to tangle with his daughter the day before she took off), Laxus made his way over while asking back, "What do you think's at the bottom of them?"

Haven shrugged, still not looking over at him as she replied, "Those treasure hunters I was hanging around, they told me what they think it is. What they thought it was. They wanted me to steal it for them. Once."

He was over to her now and, taking his own glance down the dark stairwell, Laxus said, "Why don't you go see it then?"

Finally, she turned her head to look at him, stating plainly, "It's not treasure, is it?"

It was Laxus turn to shrug. "It's not gold. Or silver. Diamonds. Gemstones. But to the right person...or the wrong, it could change everything."

"They were dumbasses anyways," Haven said simply then, but they still stood there, beside one another, looking down into the darkness.

Laxus was going through something separate from his daughter, however, knowing exactly what would await them at the bottom of the pit and not exactly caring to venture down it. Rather, he was mostly getting overwhelmed a bit, coming back to his bar, after avoiding it since his return.

There were so many memories, too many, fresh and old, and it was just so hard, sometimes, not to…

He started coughing then, roughly, into his closed fist, and Haven only watched, eyes narrowed a bit as he cleared his throat afterwards.

"You should ask Locke if there's anything he can do for you." Haven looked away, back to the endless darkness before them. "Before we leave."

But Laxus was too stubborn for something like that.

Turning from her then, he found some of that old rapport, as he remarked, "You're not fucking going down there, so why keep toying with yourself?"

"You don't know what I'm going to do."

"But I do, Haven. I always have." He almost walked into his office, it was so ingrained in him, muscle memory, but he stopped short, down the hall, instead calling over his shoulder to his oldest, "I've just never known how to stop you."

"Laxus..." Turning away from the darkness, she called out to him, "You're going to be okay, aren't you?"

"It's a fucking cough. I've had it since you were-"

"That's not what I mean."

Of course it wasn't.

"If I leave," Haven kept up, walking towards him now, "you're not going to, like, kill yourself, are you?"

"You still got that high self-importance, I see."

"You're not going to," she insisted, "are you? Laxus?"

He bowed his head then, turned away from her, before saying, "No. Haven. I'm not."

"What if I don't come back?"

"Are you really fucking asking what I'll do if you die? Again?"

"No." She refused to accept that possibility. "What if I decide I don't wanna come back? Huh? What if, I don't know, what if I help start something over in Bosco and decide I don't want to leave it. Then what?"

"I don't know."

"Laxus-"

"I don't know, Haven." And he turned to look at her then, in the darkness of the sleeping hall. "I don't. I don't know what'll happen if you don't come back or if you fucking die. I don't know. At all. I wish I could tell you that I did. I wish I could tell you that everything will be fine, here, while you're gone and not to worry, but I can't. Okay? I can't. I wish I could tell you that since I stopped drinking, being the Master, that my life's just improved leaps and bounds and that it's going to be okay for you too, now that you're trying and you're getting better, that you're being better, but I can't promise you that it will. I can't. Life's not like that; it just doesn't all of a sudden become perfect, become golden, because you start doing the correct things. It haunts you. All of it haunts you, constantly, and it's always going to be a battle and I don't know if I'll be able to fight it off. Forever. I don't know if you will. I wish I could give you answers, but I don't have them, alright? I fucking don't. I'm...sorry, Haven. I'm just really fucking sorry."

His voice had echoed some, in the empty building, and Haven fought every urge she had. To snap back at him. To run off. To just leave, that night, and this could be it, this could just finally be it, and that would be fine, what could you do, they both tried and it didn't work and she could just leave and they could write one another off.

But…

She didn't even look away. As he spoke. Just let him get it out. And he was embarrassed, extremely, as he finished with a pant, but it was the most he'd been able to say to his daughter in so long and he just…

"Freed told me that you can't control what other people do. That you can only control what you do." Haven stopped before him then, looking up at the man as she spoke. "And that, yeah, sometimes...sometimes you can really fuck something up and hurt someone else, but in the end… It's all on them. On you. To figure stuff out for yourself. And that when it's all over...we all end up back to where we were supposed to be. The whole time. So… It's okay. Alright? It's all okay."

Laxus nodded, down at his feet, before saying, "Freed says some, uh, smart things sometimes."

"Yeah." She looked to her feet as well. "Sometimes."

"I'll be here though. Haven." The man raised his head then, just to catch her gaze in the pale moonlight. "When you get back. Now c'mon; we shouldn't be here so late. This place ain't mine anymore."

She looked back down the hall, towards the staircase that lead down into the deep, dark, depths, but it didn't call for her any longer. She had to wonder if it had been what was calling to her in the first place.

Following after him though, Haven only assured her father, "It is your place, Laxus. Ours. Fairy Tail belongs to the Dreyars."

He snorted then, but maybe it was just to hide his sniffles, before remarking, "Yeah, well, it's a hell of a lot less fun without us, anyways."

The night was dying down when they made it back to it. Or at least Gajeel seemed intention on making it that way, as he'd brought his guitar out and, well, they were just lucky they made it back when they did.

Or at least Haven was.

If she wanted to actually say goodbye to everyone.

She was finally ready to admit she was.

"I was just about to go looking for you," Locke assured her from where he was laying in the grass, too inebriated to stand anymore it seemed.

As she stared down at him, Haven questioned, "Really?"

"Mmmhmm."

It felt numbing, letting them all hug her goodbye, one after another, but Haven imagined it'd have been much worse, if she'd had paced it all out, through the past few days, and when she and Locke walked (stumbled) back to their apartment for the last time, she kinda hated herself. For all those years of avoiding it.

Yeah, it hurt a lot, when you did it this way, rather than springing it on people or disappearing in the middle of the night, but there was something to be said about face that too. A strange comfort that, though she couldn't find sleep that night, did keep her nice and warm as Locke drunkenly snored their final few hours in Magnolia away.

She shoved him awake before dawn and it was weird, leaving their place behind for the last time. They weren't taking much with them, just a pack each, on their backs, and Locke left his keys under the mat, for his father, so he could return them to the landlord for him at the end of the month, and just like that, they were wanders.

Haven was excited to teach Locke all the ropes.

But they did have a destination in mind, when they boarded the train together, and Locke was kinda hung over, but nervous, and trying to hide this by glancing over one of the few journals he took with him in the early dawn light. Haven only yawned though, the second they sat down, and after a glance out the window, at the town they were leaving behind, she found his shoulder was much more welcoming.

"You're ready, aren't you?" he questioned, and it was soft, as he stayed focused in on his journal, trying really hard to hide what was really obvious to Haven.

At another point in time, she'd have capitalized on this, his obvious fears over leaving home for the first time, not just for a couple weeks, but really, truly leaving home, and it was scary. New things. Of course it was. It terrified Haven, all those years ago, when she took that first step alone. And yes, Locke was older and better prepared and actually had somewhere to go, somewhere important, that needed him, but what difference did it make? It was unfamiliar. That alone could make someone's stomach flip.

So with a smile, and one hand toying with the blue gem that hung from her neck, Haven reached down with her other hand, getting him to release his journal on instinct, just to open his palm for hers, and it was with a slight laugh that she assured the man, "Always."

**Author's Note:**

> So that's where we'll leave off for the moment. I have had some requests for us to continue on from this point, and I think we will, but I'm still working on some outlines in the event we do. Once we go forward from this point, I think you gotta kinda get the whole story out, so it'll take a few for me to work it all out. There's also still a lot that we haven't done, before this point, not so focused in on the Dreyars. But maybe give it a bit before expecting anything else beyond this point. Consider it an epilogue for this half of the series; what comes next will be a bit different.


End file.
